Poems of Mourning

by Peter Washington (Editor)

Many cultures identify mourning as the very source of poetry and music, what Elizabeth Bishop calls the art of losing. That might well be the title of this collection. Not every poem is cornered with death, but all are about loss. The poems chosen traverse a surprisingly wide range of emotions from despair to joy, resignation to anger, all articulated in language of the greatest power and beauty . All the major verse forms of mourning are represented here: epitaph, requiem and lament. Three great elergies by Milton, Whitman and Rilke are surrounded by a wide variety of shorter poems. Naturally, the pathos of death predominates, but its comedy has not been neglected, whether in the savage poems of World War I or the gentle teasing of seventeenth-century satire. Poets include: Akhmatova, Auden, Bishop, Brodsky, Browning, Carew, Cory, Cowley, Dickinson, Donne, Dryden, Dyer, Fletcher, Graves, Gurney, Hardy, Harrison, Herrick, Hopkins, Horace, King, Leopardi, Lowell, MacCaig, Mandelstam, Milosz, Philips, Propertius, Roethke, Smith, Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, Edward Thomas and Wordsworth.

Genres: Poetry, Grief, Classics, Death

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 1998

Reviews

[Sookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My father passed away three months ago. Grief is a feeling I never experienced before and being in it, living in it, exposes the world in a different away. I would like to think I have become far more tolerable, kinder, exercise more patience than ever, my annoyance towards the world has reduced, and am learning the art of letting things go. If someone argues with me - 1 + 2 = FISH, my response is now "Oh. Okay. Cool."

There is more room now in my head to remember my father fondly, he was a good man who has always encouraged my reading habits and spoiled me with books when I was a child. I bought this book years ago when I went berserk buying little pocket poets collections during a sale. In my own mourning I found some solace in some of the poems here. Some strike me differently now than before. And some - I don't think I will understand them ever.

The soul driven from the body
Mourns the memory it left behind.

A dove hit in flight sadly turns
Its neck and sees its nest destroyed.
-- Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma'arri

He is not here; but far away
The noise of life begins again,
And ghastly thro' the drizzling rain
On the bald street breaks the blank day.
-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson


And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
-- Dylan Thomas

A collection with very few standout poems but makes for a lovely read for a wounded soul.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the idea of these pocket poets books, but there is one thing about the format that gives me pain: the poet is always listed at the end of the poem rather than after the title. To me, that interrupts the flow of the poem; I'm often stopping halfway through reading and going to the bottom to figure out who the poet is.

Anthologies are always a mixed bag, with the good, the bad and the ugly all mixed up together. Obviously, Peter Washington the editor and selector chose each and every poem for a reason. If you or I were the editor, we would have chosen different poems. But overall, a solid selection. I especially liked "A Dead Mole" by Andrew Young (very clever) and "After Death" by Christine Rossetti (macabre).

[Fleur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite. Naturally including some of the world’s favourite classics there, was an approximately 100 page wide black hole mid-anthology where nothing memorable, thought provoking or noteworthy was to be found - for me, that is. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: ELPP would do well to include more contemporary poetry in their anthologies. There’s so much ancient (literally) work included and yet only three authors are included who were still alive at the time of publication (1998). Only one of them is alive to this day (good on ya, Tony Harrison!).

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very nice collection that includes the classic death poems ("Funeral Blues," "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," et al.) that are among my favorites. But there are also many others I had not read before that seem to say things quite perfectly, especially on the too early death of a loved one. Some of the best lines: "O early ripe! to thy abundant Store / What could advancing Age have added more?" (Dryden) and "The day is past, and yet I saw no sun; / And now I live, and now my life is done." (Tichborne)

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems of Mourning [1998] - ★★★★1/2

This is an impressive collection of poems that concern loss and mourning from the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets series. I found most of them absolutely beautiful, coming from such poets as Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, and Christina Rossetti. Some of them are fairly well-known, such as Bishop’s One Art, Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Hopkins’s Spring and Fall, and Auden’s Funeral Blues, while others are more obscure, including those that commemorate animals. The other great thing about this collection is that it makes an effort to present poets from around the world, so there are poems from François Villon, Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma’arri, Fyodor Tyutchev, Czeclaw Milosz, and Primo Levi.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!

Aside from love poems, sad poems are my favorite. This collection is compiled once again by Peter Washington, who does an excellent job of choosing which pieces to include to fit the overall theme. All of these poems focus on the loss of a loved one, with subjects ranging from lost lovers, friends, and even animals. It adds a nice variety which was quite refreshing; it would be so easy to simply make this collection of poems to all center on a lost lover. The only tick I have about this one is that there are poems that repeat. I read Love Poems last year, which was also compiled by Peter Washington, and a few poems I read there showed up in this volume. Other than that, I really liked this collection. I'm not gonna lie; a couple of them brought tears to my eyes.

[Ellice · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some really great poems in this compilation, but I was a bit disappointed it seemed to focus more on "classic" poets and a bit less on more modern, 20th/21st century poets. I also found the typesetting choice to put the poet's name at the end of the poem more annoying as the book went on--when many of the choices are lengthy poems that go on for multiple pages, it would be nice to be able to tell the poet at a glance.

That said, if you're looking for classic poetry on the topics of death, grief, and mourning, check this out--and even if your tastes veer more modern, there will be some choices here for you as well.

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to read how various poets throughout history perceived and reacted to death. Not all of them had a gloomy outlook, surprisingly!

[Troy Farlow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tired of Peter Washington and 98% of his picks. And for heaven’s sake, enough with ROBERTTTTT GRAVESSSSS.

[Sanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Featured some beautiful poems, such as one of my favorite poems ever: funeral blues by W. H. Auden. Also loved Emily Dickinson's poetry and will definitely read more from her.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely collection!

[Supascury · Rating 3 out of 5]

These collections are nicely curated and feel like a window into the poetry styles of old. Personally I found the old English difficult to understand and it required a lot of attention to really disect the meaning. Perhaps I lack the education in the more classic styles of poetry which inhibits me from fully appreciating a lot of this collection. At best, it serves nicely as a source of inspiration through it's unusual use of word choices. A lot of my enjoyment has come from learning these obscure archaic words.

[Karen Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Many cultures identify mourning as the very source of poetry and music, what Elizabeth Bishop calls the art of losing."

Peter Washington's opening sentence in the Foreword provides a worthy introduction. Nothing further, except: Buy This Book. Read This Book.